Part the Fourth: Objective Truth and the Professionalization of the Academy
History is the narrative ( rรฉcit ) of facts presented as true, in contrast to the fable, which is the recitation ( rรฉcit ) of facts presented as false. Voltaire in Diderot’s Encyclopedia
This work…seeks only to show what actually happened. Leopold von Ranke
[Writing American history was dominated by] one clear-cut ideal, that presented to the world first in Germany and later accepted everywhere, the ideal of the effort for objective truth. Theodore Clark Smith
This theory that history as it actually was can be disclosed by critical study, can be known as objective truth, and can be stated as such, contains certain elements and assumptions. Charles A. Beard
In Part III of this series, I noted briefly the effect of the Enlightenment on the writing of history. One other important argument was that the writing of history should be “objective” or, perhaps, truthful (this is tied up in how Enlightenment thinkers saw themselves). In Voltaire’s essay “History,” he declared, “It is well known what ridiculous tales of superstition reign in the ancient history of the Greeks. The Romans…did not shroud the history of their earliest centuries in fables any less than the others.” That said, Voltaire also knew how to read a room. He allowed that “[t]he history of events is divided into the sacred and the profane. Sacred history is the series of divine and miraculous operations, by which it pleased God in the past to conduct the Jewish nation and to exercise our faith today. I will not touch upon this respectable matter.”
Voltaire
This Enlightenment approach began to affect the writing of history in subsequent decades. In general, academic historians discounted hearsay or undocumented assertions from the past in favor of written records. Voltaire again, “[t]he closer that Herodotus comes to his own time, the truer and more informed his history becomes.” We see the effects of the Enlightenment on many of the historians I discussed in Part III. Not only did they dispense with fable, but they included (limited) footnotes in their work. While not as extensively documented as modern histories, there was the attempt to point readers to sources which could be used to verify the accuracy, or otherwise, of the author. Enlightenment-era histories are often marked by their title with many using phrases such as “A True Account…”
Nonetheless, as true believers are wont to do, historians influenced by the Enlightenment began to adopt a professional mission: history should seek to Enlighten people, teaching them the correct ethics, and serving educational goals. In the middle of the nineteenth century, a small rebellion against this approach took place in some German universities. Its most well-known advocate was Leopold von Ranke. To be sure, von Ranke did not reject the Enlightenment project. He emphasized the use of primary sources and rejected mythology. He also held to the view that History was a scientific pursuit, something that could be proven or disproven. However, he rejected the subjective use of history. His most famous statement on the matter is in the preface to his History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations: “History has had assigned to it the office of judging the past and of instructing the present for the benefit of the future ages. To such high offices this work does not presume: it seeks only to show what actually happened” (or, for Ted S. “wie es eigentlich gewesen”).
The great von Ranke
Thus was born the idea of objective, scientific history. Now, von Ranke didn’t really carry the day, but his ideas were influential in an important moment of time. By the second half of the eighteenth century, German universities were considered the best in the world (where Europe = the World). At the same time, in the United States, a movement had developed to professionalize history and move its custody from gentlemen historians to those who were correctly trained. By the 1880s, there was a general acceptance that professional historians had to hold a Ph.D. in history, have published in the field and, preferably, be a decent teacher.
Since no American university offered a Ph.D. in history, those who aspired to a career in History went to Germany to learn their craft. Here, many of them came under the sway of von Ranke’s idea that accurate, objective history was possible. However, almost as soon as this idea was grasped, it was challenged. The American Historical Association was formed in 1884 and, in the first presidential address, Andrew Dickson White asked, “Doubtless the end sought is exact truth, and the first quality required, veracity. But then comes the question: what truth, and veracity on what lines?” White also made a distinction between an historian and an annalist. The latter he described as someone who collected nothing but raw facts and presented them in an historical chronology. While accurate, it provides little information about why history happened (not to mention, it can be stupefyingly boring).
Despite such disclaimers, the determination to see history as somehow “scientific” contributed to the idea that some kind of objective truth was possible. In 1891, J. Franklin Jameson celebrated that “an increased proportion of [written history]…now comes from the teachers of history in universities and colleges and there are signs that the immediate future belongs to the professorial class.” Jameson saw this as a positive, since more and more history books written by this group showed signs of “scientific training” (emphasis mine).
The persistence of lip service to objectivity and scientific analysis was somewhat romanticized in subsequent decades. In 1935, Theodore Clark Smith retrospectively celebrated the first generation of professional historians by declaring that they were bound together by adherence to the German ideal of “the effort for objective truth.” Writing fifty years after the founding of the AHA, Smith lamented that another fifty years might see “the final extinction of a noble dream, and history, save as an instrument of entertainment, or of social control will not be permitted to exist.”
One of those on whom Smith trained his rhetorical guns was Charles Beard (of whom more in a later installment). The following year, as president of the AHA, Beard responded to Smith’s essay. While Beard’s philosophy of history (and politics) would not be supported by most Glibs, his speech was, I think, a devastating critique of the idea of an objective, scientific history. While it is impossible to pick out all the salient points, here are two of my favorites. Beard argued that the “noble dream” of objective history contained a number of assumptions among which was, the belief that “the historian can, at least for the purposes of research and writings, divest himself of all taint of religious, political, philosophical, social, sex, economic, moral, and aesthetic interests, and view this Gegenuber with strict impartiality.” Later Beard argued that “The historian is not an observer of the past that lies beyond his own time. He cannot see it objectively as the chemist sees his test tubes and compounds. The historian must โseeโ the actuality of history through the medium of documentation” (the whole thing is worth a read). While I have reservations about a great deal of the history Beard wrote, I am very sympathetic to his critique of objectivity.
Charles A. Beard
Today, most historians reject the positivist approach, that history can be treated like a science, that an objective examination of the past can reveal historical truth. Most historians today would identify themselves as historicists, those who believe that while objectivity is desirable, it is not always possible.
At least, this is their stated belief. As I will argue in a future piece, I think there is a large gap between stated and revealed.
By the second half of the eighteenth century, German universities were considered the best in the world (where Europe = the World).
Who would have been highly ranked outside of Europe at that time? The Chinese?
Yeah, probably nobody; my point was more that this was a very Euro-centric worldview, even within the US which still tended to downplay it’s own intellectual rigor.
Agreed, but I will say there was some amazing science coming out of Russia during that period. That said – absolutely the German’s made a conscious choice to become the country of science (versus France) and did so – I can only wish modern labs were patterned on those of Liebig.
Great series and much appreciated!
my point was more that this was a very Euro-centric worldview,
Ah. I didn’t pick up on that.
Euro-centric worldviews may also just align with reality more frankly.
Europe de-focusing itself has certainly been interesting if not particularly beneficial to humanity as a whole.
I was thinking about that, in relation to the concept of The New World, and why they can call it that.
Simply, the new world (North and South America, the Caribbean, etc.) never tried to colonize Europe.
https://www.cobases.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Panzer-Kaserne.jpg
https://www.cobases.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Camp-Darby-entrance-gate.jpg
OT: NH charges for search and rescue
Four teenagers from New Jersey may be on the hook to pay for a pricey rescue after their hike turned into a late-night emergency.
The four 18-year-olds were seen on video from the Franconia Ridge trail in New Hampshire, enjoying the views in nature before heading back to college in a matter of weeks.
The problem: The rising sophomores didn’t start hiking until 3:30 p.m. Friday โ less than four and a half hours before sunset.
That is the way it should be.
The idea that history writing cannot be objective seems so blindingly obvious to me that I cannot believe there is an argument over it.
A word is missing there. Either ist or war.
/not Ted’S
War, war? Wozu ist es gut?
Jawohl!
A thou? Cheap enough and a lesson learned.
They were from NJ, kind of explains things.
I think there are other possible candidates too – wurde and maybe wรผrde?
Basically, gewesen is a past participle that requires an accompanying finite very form just like such forms in English.
“verb” dammit and I even edited that, or tried to
“Basically, gewesen is a past participle that requires an accompanying finite very form just like such forms in English.”
Duh. (And that first part, too. Naturally.)
Oh. *reads your edit* Yep. Like ya said.
I cut-and-pasted from the original text. So Iโve no idea what the correct words should be.
Voltaire and von Ranke have dipshitty portraits. Slim V’s sellin’ free samples of himself to the crowd, and von Ranke’s all smug, like he wants to show me this turd he just dropped, which he thinks is of special significance.
“history should seek to Enlighten people, teaching them the correct ethics…” Oooh. But only the *right* sort of ethics, natch.
As one of my grand daughters (about 10 YO) once told me:
“Grandpa, your facts are different than our facts.”
Similar to beauty
Thanks Howard Zinn!
The People’s Historian
Pravda, comrade Zinn.
Reminds me of a hilarious scene in Liar, Liar. He’s talking to his son (Max?) about something, and Max eventually goes “But teacher says true beauty comes from the inside.” “Oh, that’s just something ugly people say.” And he can still say it!
I wonder how LLM’s are going to (I’m sure they already have to a degree) affect the historian. Obviously, digital copies of books can be scanned if accessible. I guess I’m wondering about actual historical texts vs. news articles.
The whole thing, history and technology going forward, is very interesting.
Man films extremely close encounter with a bear in Alaska. I don’t know how I’d react to such, and don’t really know the ‘correct’ way to in that circumstance, other than to have a fucking gun in bear country, but I don’t think I’d remain so purposefully still.
“No, Sir!” he yells at the bear a few times. (‘THAT’S MA’AGRRRRERAW!!’ as the bear attacks token character who needs to die.)
Light a flare! [Warning: Language, Bears]
https://notthebee.com/article/if-youve-ever-wondered-what-it-looks-like-when-a-bear-is-about-to-eat-you-one-guy-in-alaska-has-it-on-video
The human race really missed an opportunity here.
A bear stole my food while I was sleeping while backpacking in the Sierra. It was only a couple feet from me.
While fishing in Alaska the cabin I stayed at had a shotgun by the door that we had to take while going to the outhouse.
They aren’t a problem until they are
I was watching some video from a channel that popped into my feed today. Guy who calls himself the “Griffin Intelligence Agency” and uses voice changers to sort of sound like Family guy characters (Stewie and Peter to be precise). He went all-in on the Nazi shit. Wilson entered war due to pressure from the Jews in his cabinet and circle, the Balfour declaration led to the downfall of the German war effort as Jews began to sabotage it and Jews on the other side pressured Wilson to refuse to negotiate an earlier peace with Germany because of it. You know, the stab-in-the-back theory of why Germany lost WW1.
It was funny because same guy had a video supporting Massie, but also supporting the restoration of the fairness doctrine for all intents and purposes. Or at least attributed the modern polarization of politics to it.
History is what you make of it.
Is it the same idiot lefty politics? JFC I hate that show. It’s “the left can’t meme” in motion picture form.
I’d lean towards someone more right leaning but I didn’t watch enough to see if there was any real coherent point to his content.
It’s amazing to me how Jews can be behind the curtains, string pulling villains on both sides of every major issue. How do they accomplish anything? I mean, I know the conspiracy blame the Jew crowd is bugnutty. batshit fucking crazy, but I always want to ask that crowd how can the Jew pull of all this nefarious evil villain stuff and control the weather at the same time? Seems incongruous to me.
(((We))) have space lasers.
I’d argue there is a hint of truth to it. Jews have exerted outside influence on society as a whole despite being a tiny minority in the West for a very long time. They tend to be wealthy and influential. No shortage of academics or people involved in our media. And yes they seem to drift between political extremes with most being hard left, though not all.
So they do have a pretty large impact on history and present day. It just doesn’t have to take the form of a grand conspiracy for that to be true. It’d require some sort of hivemind frankly, but minorities often depict themselves in such a way. Christ, women seem to feel they all share some consciousness.
And then there is Israel and everything that goes with that these days. It’s kind of hard to argue that they *don’t* have special influence over our political class. Though I’d disagree with the average fascist in saying that’s always negative to start with and the reasons as to why.
That’s always going to attract conspiracies frankly. We do it some degree ourselves when blaming all kinds of shit on Marxism or leftist plots in general.
I’ve been known to draw parallels between Jews and other “marginalized” or oppressed groups. I’m not expert on Jewry, but the reality is they have generally maintained a close knit cultural identity through a long period of history that prioritizes things that breed success and put them at an advantage to the populations they interact with.
In college I was asked to write a paper on whether Nazi policy was good for Germany pre-WW2. I said fuck no and emphasized how unsustainable their economic policies really were. It was all predicated on going to war again and without that war it’d have crumbled like a house of cards. I didn’t even mention Jews. The professor, a Jewish man, didn’t like that much (we’d go on to get along fine and I never received anything lower than an A from him after, but I digress).
I didn’t think I really needed to say it was bad for Jews to live under their control. If I regret anything it’s not pointing out how much they lost by alienated their Jewish populations. Jews outside Germany before that were rather motivated to see the regime fall. It ended up being fairly important. I did note brain drain or something along those lines I think, but didn’t really tie it specifically to Jews.
Movie studios, money, and degrees are the real space lasers these days.
I’m not aware of any (((conspiracy))) theories in relation to the Civil War. But could probably make one around Judah Benjamin, Jeff Davis’ advisor (and maybe Varina Davis’ side piece).
A lot far right types blame Jews for the slave trade and claim they owned most of the South’s slaves.
Bro, you’ve sent me down a chatgpt rabbit hole with no bottom. I have followed a link to the American Psychological Association and assorted articles. Jesus Christ, this is a lot of information.
Sounds like a nice waste of time.
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) โ A former senior adviser to infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded guilty Tuesday to plotting to conceal federal records related to research on the origins of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.
—
Morens is accused of using his private email account to intentionally circumvent public records laws while employed at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐-๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ.”
Prediction? Heavy fine, at worst. I wish the nickel in prison would be harshly prosecuted, with a big, fat Fauci carrot if he folds. I’d prefer many things, but I imagine that’s the ‘easiest’ way to get him to roll up.
Prediction: Heave fine, at worst. I don’t really predict that happening, either. Dammit. Fauci, fingers perched, looks fucking malicious. Is.
Fauci is such a great guy he couldn’t even bother to ask Biden’s aids to draft a couple of pardons for his underlings.
Criminal convictions are for the little people.
Huh. I wonder how they ‘controlled’ anything. Just. Well. It’s for the children!
“Childrenโs lungs grew bigger and stronger after the most polluting vehicles were restricted from entering London, a study has found.
Examinations of London schoolchildren before and after the introduction of the cityโs ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) found a restoration of lung capacity that had been stunted by exposure to pollution.
The researchers said the findings were a vindication of the low-emission zone policy, which had been criticised as a burden on motorists.”
‘It’s for the children, you vindictive nasty polluters!’ *STAMPS FEET*
How many giraffes bigger?
‘Oh, honey bunches of oatmeal. Bigger. Like, MY giraffe bigger.’
https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2026/08/18/a_call_to_power_islamic_leaders_see_ballot_box_as_path_to_paradise_1200926.html
I, for one, will never submit.
I lived through the Rajneeshis when the state and county officials conspired to thwart their takeover and got the feds to deport Bogwan Piece of Shit.
We’re going to need to nuke NJ and MI from space. It’s the only way to be sure.
Goddammit
The US has been prepped for decades to be completely incapable of resisting this, racist.
They will never get here in numbers large enough to really amount to much, but when concentrated in smaller “pockets” they end up free to engage in fuckery. As we’ve seen. i’ve long maintained that the ocean protects America from its stupidity. You can say what you want about Mexican third worlders, there’s a shared history, culture to some respect, and they aren’t batshit crazy. Even if I were open borders, the thought of being surrounded by Muslims in large numbers would put an end to any theoretical wankery of that kind with a quickness.
Muslims are antithetical to everything the West stands for and there’s a massive difference between a Muslim existing here among a couple other Muslims to where they can have a Mosque/community in a larger urban area and what is going on in fucking Europe.
The part of this that’s really fucked is that the feds have shipped them off in enough numbers to kind of overwhelm certain areas that they otherwise wouldn’t have ended up in.
Immigrants that in the olden days would have been spread out and maybe assimilated are now being intentionally grouped together in some shithole in Ohio where they can out vote the locals and swing elections.
It’s the opposite of what we see with minority groups like blacks where they are mostly dispersed based on natural migration patterns and free will over time so that they really wouldn’t have much voting power in our system in local or congressional races without gerrymandered fuckery.
So like a lot of things, it’s by design. Maybe (((theirs))). Or the Marxists. Or just general government incompetence. But the problem is made worse by federal policies. First opening the border and then Biden deciding hey, let’s keep them together and just ship a few hundred to a few thousand here or there. What could go wrong?
Or let’s ship them in large numbers to red areas. They may not be able to legitimately vote today, but their anchor babies will!
OK, I’ll play. How is it by (((my))) design.
It was a joke given what was said above and online conspiracies about Israel driving the invasion of Spain recently (and Muslim immigration in general).
Let’s say shit got real bad, like legit conquered and turned to Sharia. I wouldn’t *do* anything, but I’d likely just go along as quietly as possible. I’m fairly certain I’d be too … troublesome, if they heard me talking to any other infidels. One way, reason or another, I’m confident I’d be one of the first ones in the ditches.
Though… I’m oddly spry, still. Certainly fit. And I can be made to do tasks. I’d prefer to be a typist. (Secret Spy Mode activated, obviously.) Well, that story can go in many directions. *scribbles*
tldr: I’d be executed at dawn. Maybe 10:30, I don’t know.
I have always had a handheld vacuum throughout my life. I don’t recall battery life ever being quite the issue it is in the modern ones. I bought one to help quick clean the dog’s bullshit. This was the only one on Amazon that wasn’t people bitching about battery life. I’m fairly certain I charged it since last use a few days ago, yet died after a few minutes on the high setting. This along with suction strength were common complaints even on the ridiculously expensive models (for what they are).
Suction is pretty good on this one. Doesn’t do much good if it can’t run for more than a few minutes at a time.
And hey, crazy concept here, but why not design it so it can run while plugged in as at least an option? I must be out of my mind to suggest an electronic run while receiving power. Is it really that fucking hard?
Suction strength also wasn’t some giant issue back in the day, but I guess it’s all more sustainable. In the future they’ll be thankful that .0001 degree celsius. That seems to be the result of government regulation forcing “efficiency” onto electronics.
They’ve legitimately made every fucking thing worse over time.
*ears perk* Suction, eh? I don’t hear Fido complaining about the ‘suction strength.’ There’s your ‘battery problem.’
*sniffs, licks balls*
“One penis enlargement device…
One receipt for said device made out to Bro..
One product registration card for said device filled out by Bro…”
๐
Penis enlargement? Firsts are about thrust and acceleration rather than size. Raw speed. Get in and get out. What are you trying to do? Make HER First?
And anyway, I’ll stick with the fleshlight these days. No one pays their fleshlight child support and half their shit after years of being made miserable by it.
*hand raised, sheepishly* My Fleshlight’s been finicky, recently. Not entirely sure why, but I’m sure it’s all psychological. She may be upset I’m not Peabody. He’s been coming in here and I’m not sure why. That’s a first. Now he’s got that big cone ’round his neck, he’s showin’ up all the time. He just finds a way to slip in. Not in here, he’s been scratching up the carpet in the office next door. Another first. All coming together, huh?
I’ve been using my current Black & Decker so long I have no idea how long. 20 years?
It was a more-expensive model and maybe I don’t use it as much as you use yours but I charge it maybe once every two or three months?
Yea, the past handhelds I used growing up seemed to last quite a while going off memory. And while Google says modern ion batteries are superior at keeping charge, they degrade. So I doubt anything I buy these days will last 20 years even in a shittier state that it currently exists.
The point is just that these devices have gotten shittier. It’s easy to find people bitching about them. People online asking for a good cordless vacuum or handheld one and people getting into crazy shit like DIY batteries using flash welding and soddering and shit.
Like I just want to quickly clean up some debris from dog chews and his fucking hair. This isn’t meant to be a hobby or project.
I have one those Amazon hand vacs and it does the same thing. I figured those sold on Amazon are all probably made from the same Chinese components so I bought the cheapest one. It works long enough to get the dust out my PC but goes dead before I can finish vac’ing my car. I’d rate it as somewhat useful.
I bought the new laptop on Amazon. I learned just trying to buy SD cards for the Switch to be careful with electronics, but given the shortage of parts there was no other way to get it in the foreseeable future. So far so good…
But yea, third party vendors on Amazon are little better than random assholes on Ebay. Maybe a bit worse because they hide behind the Amazon shield of legitimacy.
Critic seems to have much inner fun with the ridiculousness of “The Vampire Lestat.”
The lead, “[Sam] Reid turned to bootlegs of David Bowieโs 1974 Cracked Actor tour for inspiration on the โshowmanship, magic and mysteryโ needed to hypnotise an arena, with the result that Lestat now embodies a magnificent โdandy of the underworldโ energy. He writhes, growls and grinds on stage as he plays the fiddle and belts out ridiculously campy songs. He wears glittery eyeshadow, his hair is in ribboned pigtails. He appears to have lost his shirt permanently and bares his scarred chest to adoring fans, while singing โDonโt wanna learn another TikTok dance/Wanna stay in bed, eating black liquoriceโ and โYou canโt fuck away the loneliness / Itโll wait til youโre done / Til you come / Like a vampireโ. Off-stage he is in a sexual relationship with his mother, gets high off LSD-laced blood and comes out with phrases such as: โI carry with me an immortal erection.โ
Odd truth, possibly unconnected, but I got shingles after my second (damn, damn good) LSD trip. *tap tap*
Sounds more like he watched Bowie in Labyrinth.
RIP Frank Beard
https://pitchfork.com/story/zz-top-drummer-frank-beard-dies-at-77/
The beer drinking and hell raising ends for everybody one day. RIP.
Why that black autistic dude has a job at Cambridge. As if we didn’t already know.
Put it in writing.
Happy hump day, all you fucking bots.
๐ค๐๐ซ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AEYN5w4T_aM
๐ถ๐ถ
Good morning, Sean and Ted’S.!
Good morning, Ninja Cat!
…who I found this morning lying directly across the bathroom doorway. ๐ ๐ธ
How are you this morning, Ted’S.?
I had a fly in my bedroom.
I think I killed it, but I couldn’t find the dead fly body.
Either the fly survived, or you’re going to be haunted by a ghost fly for not giving it a proper burial at landfill.
The ghost of David Hedison.
Also relevant:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260818_07/index.html
What if you aren’t a sex bot?
So you’re admitting you’re a Tulpa?
Local to UCS:
https://wnyt.com/top-stories/officials-apparent-murder-suicide-at-harmony-mills-apartments/
Good morning all,
I’ve been up for an hour but I’m a slow reader and need that first cup of java before I’m able to communicate.
I’m tempted to make a joke about JDK versions, but it would be too niche.
I
Me too. Already cleaning the garage. My brother is visiting Saturday. I am trying to make the place place presentable.